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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFlying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission - 01/14/2010 APPROVED MINUTES FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION THURSDAY,JANUARY 14, 2010 7:00 P.M. CITY CENTER Heritage Room I 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Rick King; Vice-Chair Jeff Larsen; Commissioners: Judy Gentry, Greg McKewan, Mark Michelson, Jeff Nawrocki and Kurt Schendel COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT: None STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Sam Clark VISITORS: Ben McQuillan, Inflight Pilot Training Jennifer Lewis, MAC; Dana Swanson, MAC Chad Leqve, MAC STAFF: Scott Kipp, Senior Planner; Carol Pelzel, City Recorder I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair King called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Michelson moved, seconded by McKewan, to approve the agenda as presented. Motion carried, 7-0. III. PUBLIC COMMENT A. 2009 MAC FCM OPERATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD TO BEN MCOUILLAN, INFLIGHT PILOT TRAINING Nawrocki introduced Ben McQuillan of Inflight Pilot Training, the recipient of the 2009 Flying Cloud Airport Aircraft Operator of the Year Award. McQuillan was selected for the way he introduces the noise abatement procedures to his student pilots and his discussions with the students on flying friendly. He goes above and beyond the basic requirements for pilot training. Nawrocki said McQuillan also offers a free weekly seminar, another effort and means to get the noise abatement mitigation out to users of the airport. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES January 14, 2010 Page 2 IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. COMMISSION MEETING HELD THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2009 MOTION: Nawrocki moved, seconded by Larsen, to approve the November 12, 2009, minutes as published. Motion carried, 7-0. V. GUEST SPEAKERS VI. DISCUSSION ITEMS A. FCAAC 2009 YEAR-END REPORT AND 2010 GOALS Kipp explained a draft of the 2009 year-end report had been e-mailed to the Commissioners. New graphs will be incorporated into the report and he asked the Commission to review the written text and forward any edits and/or additions to Kipp. Larsen said he would like to see included in the report something about the noise attenuation testing and sound insulation to be done by MAC. He feels the City Council should be aware that this will be occurring this year. King suggested this be included in the Goals Section. He indicated this would also be mentioned at their City Council workshop. McKewan said on Page 12 of the report it is noted the Multilateration Project should be operational by the end of the year. He questioned the status of the project. Chad Leqve, MAC representative, explained the system is installed and operational and the accuracy testing has been completed. They had some issues with some of the sensors and their power supply due to the cold weather conditions. They will be deploying some internal environmental controls and once that is completed and tested the project will be completed. They anticipate being done with the project within a month. McKewan suggested they state in the report the Multilateration Project will be operational by the end of first quarter 2010. MOTION: Gentry moved, seconded by Larsen, to approve the FCAAC 2009 Year-End Report and 2010 Goals with the additions discussed and to include edited changes as suggested. Motion carried, 7-0. B. FEBRUARY 16, 2010 COUNCIL WORKSHOP AND COUNCIL PRESENTATION King explained the Commission's workshop with the City Council will be held on February 16 beginning at 5 p.m. Schendel and Michelson agreed to make the presentation to the City Council. King said the presentation will include pictures of the recent construction occurring at Flying Cloud. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES January 14, 2010 Page 3 King distributed a draft of the 2010 meeting topics. He asked the Commission to review this document and forward any additional topics the Commission would like discussed to Kipp. C. CITY COMMENTS ON MAC 2009 LTCP Kipp reviewed with the Commission the City's comments on MAC's 2009 Long- Term Comprehensive Plan for Flying Cloud Airport(Plan). The City believes MAC should evaluate the impact of non-aeronautical land development on City infrastructure including environmental impacts and a public hearing process. Kipp briefly reviewed the approval process for the Plan explaining MAC will provide the City with comments on what they presented to MAC. Michelson said Item #7 talks about runway length analysis. He asked if that hasn't already been resolved. Kipp responded MAC is not proposing any extension of the runway,however, the intent of the City's comment is more of a question of how are they evaluating this and does it have any future ramifications. The runway length may not meet FAA standards for a particular aircraft but it is at 5,000 feet and that is the maximum allowed by State law. The question is worded to bring out an answer as to whether or not it meets the standards and if it doesn't does it mean they will need an extension. If MAC's answer is it doesn't meet the standards they will have to give a reason for the expansion and explain why the runway doesn't meet the standards. Michelson asked for a clarification of Question#3 regarding the elimination of any reference to a potential expansion of the south building area. Kipp explained in the Final Agreement graphics were included to define the south building area. In the proposed Plan, MAC identifies a"potential building expansion area" outside the boundaries of the south building area. MAC identifies this for a future Long Term Plan consideration. D. MET COUNCIL AIRPORT CLASSIFICATION OF THE REGIONAL AVIATION SYSTEM PLAN UPDATE Kipp explained at a previous meeting the Commission expressed concern about the Met Council looking at the regional aviation system and suggesting changes in the Minor airport category. The proposal is to break out Minor airports into two different categories, Minor I and Minor II, and changing the runway definitions for all airport categories from a maximum runway length to a minimum runway length. This change could result in longer runways for some of the Minor airports, including Flying Cloud. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES January 14, 2010 Page 4 A Resolution was adopted by the City Council objecting to any proposed changes to the Minor airports. Several discussions were also held with the Met Council's Aviation Technical Task Force of the need to make any changes. As a result of these efforts the Met Council's consultant said the change in Minor airports ultimately proved to be less advantageous than anticipated, and recommended retaining the existing regional airport classification. This information will go to the Met Council's Transportation Advisory Board for additional review. Kipp said based on the consultant's recommendation it is unlikely the minor airports will be separated. E. FCM JOINT AIRPORT ZONING BOARD UPDATE King reported the Joint Airport Zoning Board (JAZB) has not met since this Commission last met. He explained there is some land use work going on between MAC and the City. King briefly reviewed the purpose of the Zoning Board which includes looking at the impact of implementing safety zones and to determine if the safety zone is to be modified from State Standards. He further explained land in Safety Zone A is restricted from any kind of development while land in Safety Zone B would have limited development. The Zoning Board will no longer exist once a recommendation is made. The Board currently meets the third Thursday of the month at 4 p.m. with the next meeting scheduled for January 28. King said he will report on that meeting at the Commission's next meeting. The City and MAC are assessing developable pieces of land around Flying Cloud and the economic impact of the development of that land. Michelson asked if they anticipate making any major changes to the zoning. King responded the safety zones could be affected and could be made smaller. Leqve explained MAC has done a safety study for Flying Cloud and they will continue to have additional discussions and analysis on the safety study and additional study on the economic effects. Gentry asked if the Board decides something should be changed, what the process to do so is. Leqve explained the process including the Board having to draft a zoning ordinance published for public review and comment along with a public hearing. The responses would be brought back to the Zoning Board. The Board would review the comments, approve the responses and make modifications based on those responses and submit it to the Commissioner of Transportation for review. The Commissioner would review the documents and send it back to the Zoning Board for review of the Commissioner's comments. Another public comment period would be held; the Board would review the document and once again send it to the Commissioner of Transportation. After that review it is sent back to the Board and then to the governmental units that would implement the ordinance. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES January 14, 2010 Page 5 VII. EDUCATIONAL ITEMS VIII. FINAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN CITY AND MAC A. NOISE COMPLAINTS/STAGE 2 OPERATIONS REPORT (NOVEMBER- DECEMBER) Lewis reported for the months of November and December there were 546 complaints received from 28 individuals with 180 complaints submitted for nighttime and early morning hours. There were 203 complaints submitted for helicopter operations. Lewis said compared to this same timeframe last year, complaints were up 55 percent with fewer complainants; 28 compared to 44 in 2008. In 2009 there were 3,710 total complaints filed compared to 2,876 in 2008. King questioned why helicopter complaints were up so dramatically especially since Life Link is no longer at the airport. Lewis pointed out 203 helicopter complaints were submitted by five individuals and most of them were during the daytime hours. She indicated the tower has not been able to identify what operator may be generating these complaints. The new Multilateration system should assist them in identifying this aircraft. Lewis indicated the tower has suggested the activity may be specifically related to the location of the complaints, near the lake. The aircraft noise may be due to wildlife activity and the Fish and Wildlife doing some type of survey in that area. Michelson asked Kipp to check with the City to see if they are conducting any type of survey in the area of the helicopter complaints. Kipp said he would check with the Parks Department. Leqve said it is important to point out there are less helicopter operations occurring now. The operations have gone down but complaints have gone up. There are a small number of people logging a significant number of complaints and those aircraft could be something other than helicopters. King said the work they have done with helicopter noise has been good and he suggested MAC talk to the people filing the complaints to try and determine what is going on. Leqve said they have tried contacting these people but have been unable to do so. King said it would be good to know if someone is running training flights and if they are, it might be good to talk to them and ask them to vary their pattern and to circle around the river. King asked MAC to continue pursuing this and to let the Commission know what they find out. B. FCM MAINTENANCE RUN-UP LOCATIONS Nawrocki explained MAC is recommending the addition of a third maintenance run-up location at Flying Cloud Airport. There are currently two run-up locations at Flying Cloud located on the approach end of Runways 28 and 36. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES January 14, 2010 Page 6 Lewis explained extended run-ups for maintenance purposes could exceed 55 minutes or more. These types of activities are identified in the Noise Abatement Plan and are conducted in two locations on Flying Cloud. They are now considering a third designated area which is necessary to reduce the risk of runway incursions. The additional location would only be used when Runway 18/36 is in use. Approximately 15 percent of aircraft operations operate on that runway. Nawrocki stated the third area would be used by an operator located on the northwest end of the runway and would eliminate that operator from having to cross an active runway. Lewis stated in evaluating noise complaints received in 2009, 92 complaints received were related to run-up noise with 25 of those complaints received when Runway 18/36 was in use. Of the 92 complaints received, one person was responsible for 30 percent of those complaints. Michelson pointed out in general, most of the run-ups occur during day working hours and not during the night or on a weekend. Lewis explained run-ups that are conducted in designated areas need to be coordinated with Air Traffic Control. Michelson said the area affected by this addition is located close to Grace Church and the soccer fields so he does not see this as a problem because the run-ups are generally done during the week. He stated if a run-up goes for 55 minutes it will be heard. Lewis indicated the primary user of the new area will be ASI and they have talked about usage. Nawrocki said the run-ups would most likely occur Monday through Friday during business hours and there will be about five per week. King pointed out the additional run-up area would improve safety by eliminating the need to cross an active runway. The operator would still conduct the run-ups even if they didn't have this additional area. Nawrocki said if a third designated run-up area is added they will be required to modify the Noise Abatement Plan and the pilot guide. King said they may also have to do something with the Operational Implementation Plan. Kipp said he would look into that and make sure everything is up to date. Michelson said he feels they should move ahead with the third run-up designation because it does improve safety at the airport and he does not believe run-up locations were addressed in the Final Agreement. McKewan asked if it would make sense to look at noise complaints to see if it matches up with any of those complaints. Perhaps they could track when this area is used for run-ups. Nawrocki said they would ask ASI to keep track of when they use the new location for two months or so to see if they can match the noise complaints with location use. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES January 14, 2010 Page 7 King thanked Nawrocki for bringing this matter forward. They are not required to do so but he appreciates him letting the Commission know of their plans. This is a good example of their partnership. IX. NOISE ABATEMENT/AIRCRAFT INCIDENTS X. NEW BUSINESS A. 2010 MEETING SCHEDULE CHANGES King reported the 2010 Meeting Schedule included in the Commission's agenda material showed two meeting dates in March. The March 15 date should be removed. The Commission will be meeting on March 11. MOTION: Gentry moved, seconded by Michelson, to approve the 2010 Meeting Schedule for the Flying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission as corrected. The motion carried, 7-0. XI. OTHER BUSINESS A. VARIOUS FYI ITEMS 1. Approved FCAAC Minutes of September 10, 2009 2. Approved Airport tour Notes of October 20,2009 3. LTCP Comments from Hennepin Village Resident 4. NTSB Preliminary Aviation Reports 5. MAC 2010-2016 CIP Information 6. MAC Acquisition of Property for Runway Protection Zone 7. City/MAC Correspondence—MOU and commercial development possibility 8. Various airport/Aviation Related News Articles 9. City Council Workshop and Council Presentation—February 16, 2010 10. Next Commission meeting—March 11, 2010 Kipp distributed a copy of a letter to Jeff Hamiel, MAC Executive Director, signed by Chair King, thanking them on their safety and conscientious efforts to achieve the airport construction in a timely manner. Larsen distributed a copy of MAC's brochure titled"Minneapolis— St. Paul Reliever Airports" that was distributed at the dedication of the runway completion at Flying Cloud. XII. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Motion was made by Gentry, seconded by Larsen, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried, 7-0. The meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m.